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whispered, “I’d do this.” The sound was soft and seductive passing over his lips, making butterflies erupt in my stomach. My body felt hot. Every inch of skin seared like it was on fire, pleading for his touch. He lingered, withholding the kiss, watching me through lowered lashes.
    There was nothing but him and me in that moment. We weren’t in a dank prop room, we weren’t running lines. The way he looked at me, the way his eyes pinned me in place and stole my breath, made my heart race faster. It banged into my ribs as his lips moved painfully slow toward mine. When his hand touched my face and slid back into my hair, I thought I’d die. Every part of my body was on fire.
    Trystan’s lips brushed lightly to mine. The soft caress sent a spark through me that kept me from pulling away. Instead I savored the sensation, the feel of his full mouth against mine. The heat from his lips, the softness of the kiss would be burned into my mind after that. That kiss would come unbidden when I least expected it.
    After he swept his lips across mine, he pulled back just enough that the sensation of his lips on mine ended. It pulled me toward him like a magnet tugging wildly at my insides. Shock held me in place as it crashed into me in a relentless wave. His kiss was bewitching. It felt real. The way my body responded to him—to his voice and his words—was real. I’d denied it over and over again. I didn’t want to be like every other girl that was infatuated with him. We were friends. There was nothing there. I kept telling myself that, but right now, the way my stomach twisted to have him so close, I knew it was a lie. I liked him.
    Trystan sat there watching me, his eyes locked on mine. His palm rested against my cheek as he gazed at me. It was like he was too stunned to move. At least I thought he was. When the door clicked open above us, he winked at me. His hand slid away from my cheek. The air felt cold with it gone. I repressed a shiver, and slumped backward like he had no effect on me.
    A voice called down, “On stage, Scott!”
    Trystan stood and looked down at me. I stared at his shoes, wondering what kind of crazy I had to be to let him kiss me.
    “ Be right there,” he replied and the door shut again. “What’d you think?” There was a question in his voice. I glanced up at him.
    “ Better than yesterday,” I replied, trying to sound normal. “Assuming Brie doesn’t jump on you when you kiss her like that, you’ll be good.”
    He grinned, “I thought that scene needed some tension. That worked, right?”
    “ Yes,” my voice came out in a breath. “It worked perfectly.”
     
     
    CHAPTER 6
     
    ~TRYSTAN~
     
    That kiss. He didn’t want to stop. Her lips tasted like strawberries and when he pressed her mouth to his, Trystan felt whole. There wasn’t another word for it. He needed Mari like he needed air. When his hands tangled in her hair, she didn’t protest. As he kissed her, he waited for her to pull away. When she didn’t, when she ran the lines through the end of the scene, he didn’t question his good fortune. Instead he concentrated on the taste of her lips and the shape of her mouth, the smoothness of her skin and the softness of her hair in his hand. It would be like this, he thought, if we were together. His body burned hotter than it should have with such a chaste kiss, but it was the closest he’d ever gotten to Mari.
    Reluctantly, he ended the kiss by pulling away slightly. He tried to control his breathing, still holding her face in his hands. Her breath rushed over his lips as he lingered there. Trystan didn’t want to stop. He had no idea why Mari let him do it. It should have gotten him slapped. When the door above them scraped open, he released her face. Immediately his hands felt empty, like they’d been holding the most valuable thing they’d ever touched and now it was gone.
    “ Be right there,” he replied. He waited a beat for the door to click shut. Heart racing,